Desperate search for survivors after apartment building collapses in Iowa

Authorities do not know how many people are still missing after part of a building collapsed in Davenport on Sunday evening

A desperate search is underway to rescue potential survivors of an apartment building collapse in Davenport, Iowa.

Part of a red brick building on the city’s Main Street collapsed at around 5pm Sunday, with stunning photos showing at least one-fourth of the structure’s units destroyed. As of Monday morning, a total of eight people had been rescued from the wreckage.

Davenport Fire Chief Michael Carlsten said during a press conference that no deaths have been reported and the number of potential missing remains unknown.

Mr Carlsten added that the cause of the collapse has not been determined but residents had been placing several 911 calls reporting a “strong smell of gas.”

Authorities found a gas leak after the collapse and water also had leaked throughout the floors of the structure. Rescue crews from the Iowa and Illinois Quad-Cities region are expected to wrap up operations today before entering the recovery phase of their response.

Building resident Lexus Berry told The Quad-City Times that she narrowly escaped but her wife and cats became trapped as the building collapsed. Ms Berry had just taken pictures of a separation between a wall and the bathroom doorway before she tried to make it to safety.

“We both grab our cats, she grabbed one, I grabbed one, got to the door,” Ms Berry told the outlet. “I watched her, and everything just fell down and everything fell on top of me, and I barely made it out the door … There was nothing left where I was standing at. Everything else was gone.”

Recounting the moments leading up to the collapse, second-floor resident Robert Robinson also told the Times that he walked outside for a smoke break and went back in as alarms went off.

“When we started to go back in the lights went out,” he told the newspaper. “All of a sudden everybody started running out saying the building collapsed. I’m glad we came down when we did.”

Officials update to media, residents and onlookers after a partial building collapse on the 300 block of Main Street (AP)

Emergency crews work the scene of a partial building collapse on the 300 block of Main Street, Sunday, May 28, 2023 (AP)

Mr Robinson and his girlfriend were able to take the elevator down just in time, he said.

“This is horrible,” he said. “We don’t have anywhere to go. Nothing to eat.”

Tadd Machovec, a contractor from Davenport, said he was inside and was working to put up a support beam when the building came down.

Residents of the building had long complained about issues with it. Last year, nearly 20 permits were filed, mainly for plumbing or electrical issues, according to the Associated Press.

The last permit for the building was filed on March 2 and had “misc” listed in the description.

Emergency crews work the scene of a partial apartment building collapse in Davenport, Iowa (AP)

The facade of the red brick building was ripped off, exposing the apartment units inside (AP)

The first 911 call reporting the collapse came around 5pm on Sunday night. When first responders arrived, they found part of the back of the building, a mixture of residential and commercial spaces, collapsed.

There were 84 units in the building, according to Davenport Mayor Mike Matson.

“When something like this happens here, and tragedy strikes, our responders immediately do their work and their job and I can’t thank them enough,” Mr Matson said in a press conference.

Resident Todd Wilson said that he received a call from the city last year telling him to evacuate his apartment within 48 hours because bricks were falling off.

“What they did was they switched ownership and they gave them time to fix it, but they didn’t do it properly,” Mr Wilson told the Times.

Emergency crews work the scene of a partial building collapse on the 300 block of West Third Street (Quad City Times)

A school bus drives past the rubble after a building collapse on Sunday (Quad City Times)

A working phone number for the building owner was not immediately available.

Jennifer Smith said she learned of the explosion from her husband, who works for Mid-American Energy.

“He was on call and got called in for a building explosion downtown. We had no idea it was our building,” she said. “It sounds bad, but we have been calling the city and giving complaints since December. Our bathroom caved in December.”

Ms Smith said water damage has been apparent since they moved into their space in the winter. The company's co-owner, Deonte Mack, said fire crews were in the building as recently as Thursday for an inspection.

“The tenants told us the building was going to collapse,” Ms Smith said.